Into Wales
We started today with an easy morning in Liverpool. After breakfast, we had time to lounge a bit before packing and taxiing to the train station. Today's ride was the most complex yet: three separate train rides.
Once we crossed into Wales we noticed a change in the signage at train stations: Welsh was above English. It's the first language here; many people speak nothing else. As a language, Welsh is related to Gaelic, and Margo says it predates many modern languages including German and French. And we're not even 100 miles from Liverpool.
We saw several castles on the ride over. We also saw several trailer parks. It was odd seeing trailer parks below a castle.
Tonight and the next two nights we're at a B & B in Betws-Y-Coed. I can't even pronounce it yet. It's probably the smallest town we've stayed in yet. Our B & B is a short walk outside town - to get here, we cross the train station, walk past a cemetery, cross a pedestrian-only suspension bridge over a river, then use a walkway between two pastures, cross a road, then walk up a short drive. The town is in a valley so we have lovely hills to look at. We're also close to the Snowdonia mountains (mountains being a relative term here), where we plan to travel tomorrow. There's also hiking trails a short distance from our B & B. Margo is looking forward to exploring some of the history and heritage of Wales nearby.
As much as I enjoy exploring the arts and culture of cities, I'm glad to be here in the country and look forward to seeing some natural beauty. This will also be our last stay in the country for a while; Birmingham and London are next.
Once we crossed into Wales we noticed a change in the signage at train stations: Welsh was above English. It's the first language here; many people speak nothing else. As a language, Welsh is related to Gaelic, and Margo says it predates many modern languages including German and French. And we're not even 100 miles from Liverpool.
We saw several castles on the ride over. We also saw several trailer parks. It was odd seeing trailer parks below a castle.
Tonight and the next two nights we're at a B & B in Betws-Y-Coed. I can't even pronounce it yet. It's probably the smallest town we've stayed in yet. Our B & B is a short walk outside town - to get here, we cross the train station, walk past a cemetery, cross a pedestrian-only suspension bridge over a river, then use a walkway between two pastures, cross a road, then walk up a short drive. The town is in a valley so we have lovely hills to look at. We're also close to the Snowdonia mountains (mountains being a relative term here), where we plan to travel tomorrow. There's also hiking trails a short distance from our B & B. Margo is looking forward to exploring some of the history and heritage of Wales nearby.
As much as I enjoy exploring the arts and culture of cities, I'm glad to be here in the country and look forward to seeing some natural beauty. This will also be our last stay in the country for a while; Birmingham and London are next.
posted by Michael Nelson at 1:19 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home